We passed the numbly moaning bar;

We heard the harbour bell,

Its dull fog-muffled clang from far

Came like a lorn death-knell.

The quay-lights pushed a livid flare

Through shrouding mist; and all things there

Moved like grim shades in hell.

The hammer's clamp on resonant steel;

The siren's shriek; the scream and whirr

Reverberant from forge and wheel;

The fury and the clangorous stir

And plunge of traffic; Vulcan's heel

Crashing on iron,—and the reel

Of sense at loss of her.—

None guessed when, playfully, she said,

With smile that brightened toward her dead,

"To-day across the world I ride

To meet a bridegroom, I the bride."

They thought her mischief lied.

Around us was the deafening roar,

 Prev. P 21/53 next